Bathymetric mapping of the coastal and offshore geology and structure of the Jurassic Coast, Weymouth Bay, UK

A high-resolution bathymetric mapping study of the Dorset and East Devon Coast, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Jurassic Coast, reveals significant insights into the structural development of the Purbeck Monocline. The research, covering 400 square kilometers with seamless onshore-offshore integration, demonstrates that the offshore region lacks extensive basin-related extensional faulting, contrasting sharply with the onshore area. This suggests that prior to inversion, the basin evolved through intermittent activity on major extensional faults. Additionally, the study highlights variations in strain expression between the hanging-wall block and the fault inversion zone, with the footwall acting as a buttress to compression. These findings advance the understanding of basin development and inversion structures by leveraging high-resolution, spatially extensive datasets.

Sanderson, D. J., Dix, J. K., Westhead, K. R., & Collier, J. S. (2017). Bathymetric mapping of the coastal and offshore geology and structure of the Jurassic Coast, Weymouth Bay, UK. Journal of the Geological Society, 174(3), 498–508. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2016-070